CV Axle Gasket?

[vwwestyman]

Am I smoking something?

I could have sworn there was supposed to be a paper/cardboard gasket between the CV joints and axle flanges at the bearing/transmission. But when I asked about it at the FLAPS he couldn't find anything, so I googled for it and couldn't find any mention of them on several different sites talking about repairing/replacing the CV joints.
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[old DKP driver]

ONLY on Porsche NOT Vw's
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V.W.owner since 1967

[OB Bus]

I went through this when I changed my axle. The old (original?) axle had the gasket and the new axle came with the a new paper gasket. I used the gasket and it made installation a mess. Then I learned from the good people here that the paper gasket is not required or used on a Bus. The next axle I changed I did without the gasket and it went so much easier. No leaks either.
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Larry in OB
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[vwwestyman]

Good enough for me.

I guess that later on VW decided they needed to be Porsche-level fancy and install the gaskets, cause I'm more than certain that some water-cooled cars I've had had them. Not that I worried too much about replacing them at the time...
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[raygreenwood]

They are not a big deal to install. I make my own for my 412. They prevent grease seepage and get rid of the greasy joint syndrome and the greasy crusty bolt heads that need cleankng out like mowt people complain about.
Necessary. ..no. useful?.....yes. Ray

[airschooled]

The early and higher quality buses had a flange on the stub axle that prevented most grease splatter. They also had a plastic(?) cap on the inside of the joint to contain the grease. Unfortunately the stub axle is not interchangeable.

Robbie
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[kreemoweet]

I think the grease film on the CVJ's helps to keep the rust away. A big plus for those of us who can't garage or otherwise pamper our rigs.
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[raygreenwood]

[kreemoweet]

[aeromech]

Reviving this 10 year old thread.

Recently I replaced my cv boots on my 1971 bus and when I did I noticed quite a mess from grease being slung around from all four cv’s. There was quite a trail hanging off my starter.

Finding this brought back an old memory from years ago when I did an axle change on some kind of water cooled VW which used a thin cork gasket. I’d like to find these gaskets as I believe from my old memory that they would fit the bus as well.

Something like this maybe:

https://www.google.com/search?q=vw+cv+joint+gasket...ent=safari

Does anyone have experience with this?
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VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
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Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[kreemoweet]

It's hard to believe that much, if any, grease would ever leak past the joint-to-flange interface. Torn boots, yes. And yes to trans-oil-plus-road-grime "grease" from leaking oil seals and caps in the flange.

Years ago, I bought a Brazilian "bus" axle with CVJ's from a Bus Depot clearance sale, I recall that it came with those gaskets, which I tossed.
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'68 bug: seized by the authorities
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[poundman]

[raygreenwood]

As I noted 10 years ago.....its not "grease" that is leaking. It is the oil that separates from the grease. Grease is nothing but thickened oil.

The grease is too thick to seep. The oil is not. That link to the gaskets is nice because it shows you versions of CV gaskets from the usual suspects. Those blue non-cork ones from AutohouzeAZ are moderately better.

I will say that the cork gaskets are the bigger problem. Virtually every actual cork gasket I ever bought was....old....crispy....even back in my early vw days in high school and college. They work when they are pliable and installed properly.

Before I had fully learned to work on everything in my first 411 car I still had a mechanic guru I went to for certain things until about my second year in college. I learned a lot. I watched him install a set of these on a porsche 914. I had tried to install one of these gaskets on one side of my car and it was a mess so I left it out.

How he installed it leak free was to clean the hub very well. Spotless. He then used a thin fast drying gasket adhesive. This was 1982. It smelled like Yamabond or similar. He let it mostly dry until it just had some tack. He placed/arranged the gasket inside of the hub on the transmission. The sealant was just to keep it in place.

Then he installed the cv....only marginally greased. Bolted it down. Then he pumped in the rest of the grease with a skinny tube through the boot.

He noted....that once you do this....after you drive it,....wait a day or so and retorque the bolts. You may have to do this twice.

Why?....because some of the the cork gaskets are too thick. They take a while to compress. The bolts get loose as the gaskets continue to compress.

He also noted that a lot of the gaskets on smaller joints or joints without a gasket recess do not seal as well around the bolts and still can seep at the bolts.

The way I have done the for a long time is to put a single fine corner bead of solvent based sealant in the cuff of the flange on the transmission. I used to use a German gasket sealant I got from the dealer many years ago. Now I use something like motoseal or yamabond....same thing. Then put a very thin ring around each bolt hole either on the hub or on the joint. Let it dry completely so it shrinks down thin. You are making a custom gasket maybe 0.005" thick. Then bolt it together. Never leaks.

Ray

EDIT.....it was "Hondabond 4" I was taught to use and NOT Yamabond.

Actually these days, Permatex Motoseal works as good or better.

[aeromech]

It's hard to believe that much, if any, grease would ever leak past the joint-to-flange interface

Just what are you saying here? Am I misinterpreting? You gunna ask me for pictures next?

$20 got me four gaskets coming from autohausaz. I’ll come back here with a report on them in a couple weeks. Might even bring some pics to show some people
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[raygreenwood]

[richparker]

[SGKent]

never had a bus leak significant grease there. I use Lobro boots. Some late CV's for vanagons had a thin seal that went around the outside of the joint but the only place i have seen them is with new CV kits like these

https://dansperformanceparts.com/cv-joint-kit-for-...-nauFPPIDS

Porsche 911, 928 use these. They go between the flange and CV. You'll need to figure something else out for the boot to CV. Be sure if you use them to retorque on a regular basis. Some people refer to paper seals and more than one thread I found people say after many failures they refuse to use them again.

https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/93033229700?utm_sour...iMQAvD_BwE

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-rein-parts/inner-cv-ga...rQQAvD_BwE
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[Willin]

I just replaced a torn boot yesterday.
Looking at things, it doesn't look like grease is leaking out. ( Trans. is leaking oil though, so it's kind of a mess.)
But, I was more concerned about water leaking IN. Especially at the boot flange.
Bentley manual, ( which I just picked up along with the boots) doesn't show any gasket/seal between CV and axle stub, or CV and boot flange.
I wondered what kind of sealant one would use there , which would be effective, and allow removal in the future. ( Your dealing with a grease-y mess.)
Decided to put it back together without cleaning all the grease from mating surfaces. So the grease is the seal.

I can't see putting a thick cork/paper gasket here between machined metal surfaces that you torque down. ( And then have to keep re-torquing.)
Maybe between boot flange and CV, but again...

My tip is to use an impact driver to spin the bolts in and out,(after loosing them first), speeds things up. Then tighten and use a torque wrench. (Wheel off the ground, so it turns, you can get at all the bolts.)
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73 bus. Org. 1700 with dual Weber 40 idfs, bus header with Empi qp muffler, CB magnaspark 2 " ready to run kit".

[aeromech]

I plan to use permatex anaerobic sealant which never hardens.
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[richparker]